Antibiotic resistance in non-enterococcal lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria (original) (raw)

Section snippets

General introduction

The lactic acid bacteria (LAB) form a taxonomically diverse group of microorganisms, which can convert fermentable carbohydrates into lactic acid (Leroy and de Vuyst, 2004). Owing to their aerotolerant anaerobic nature, the members of the LAB community occupy a wide range of natural environments (Carr et al., 2002). The most typical LAB members are Gram-positive, catalase-negative organisms of the low C+G branch, belonging to the genera Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Leuconostoc and Pediococcus (

The antibiotic resistance problem

The clinical use of antibiotics has achieved a significant reduction in the morbidity and mortality associated with infectious diseases, and has had a profound impact on the success of surgery and cancer therapy. Their use has been extended to veterinary medicine, where they are employed as therapeutic agents, prophylactics and animal growth promoters, and to agriculture for the control of plant diseases (Wegener, 2003; Levy and Marshall, 2004). It is estimated that some 1–10 million tons of

Antibiotic resistance in LAB and bifidobacteria

Antibiotics kill or inhibit susceptible bacteria leaving the resistant ones to proliferate. Antibiotic resistance may be achieved by a number of different mechanisms, including (i) decreased uptake of the antibiotic, (ii) increased export of the antibiotic, (iii) inactivation or modification of the antibiotic target, (iv) introduction of a new antibiotic-resistant target, (v) hydrolysis of the antibiotic, (vi) modification of the antibiotic, and (vii) prevention of activation of the antibiotic (

Acquisition and spread of antibiotic resistance in LAB and bifidobacteria

Transduction was the first gene transfer technique developed and used in LAB for the transfer of technologically important traits between different strains (Fitzgerald and Gasson, 1988). However, its importance as a means of disseminating antibiotic determinants is questionable because of the high specificity of phages. Although complete and active genes for late competence events have been described in the genome of L. lactis (Bolotin et al., 2001), natural competence has not been described in

Conclusions

Antibiotics are of enormous value to combat infectious diseases, but their efficacy is being threatened by microbial resistance. At present, multiresistance seems to be uncommon among LAB and bifidobacteria species, but an increasing number of strains displaying atypical resistance levels to some antibiotics (especially tetracycline and erythromycin) are being isolated. Many of these carry antibiotic-resistance genes, which are thought to be acquired by horizontal transmission. Resistant

Acknowledgments

Work on antibiotic resistance in LAB strains at the authors’ laboratory is supported by an EU project within the sixth Framework Programme (ACE-ART, Ref. 506214). M.S. Ammor was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the “_Secretaría de Estado de Universidades e Investigación_” of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (ref. SB2004-0165). Colleagues are fully acknowledged for sharing results for this review before publication.

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